


The Only Logical Explanation

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Crack, Episode Related, Fic, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-13
Updated: 2011-08-13
Packaged: 2017-10-22 13:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meta-crack-fic reaction to 3.07. Implied spoilers only.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Logical Explanation

Clinton was up to his ears in falsified corporate accounts when Diana arrived in the office. She was carrying two cups of takeout coffee. She handed him one, set the other down next to his phone and perched on the edge of his desk, unwrapping her scarf, apparently trying to appear casual.

"We've got a problem," she said, quiet and tense.

Clinton pushed his chair back so he could see her face. Her mouth was pinched at the corners and there was a worry line between her eyebrows. "What's going on?"

"Neal just lifted Peter's gun from its holster and shot three people," said Diana. "But that's—"

"What?" Clinton sprang to his feet. Diana hushed him, and he realized people were looking. He lowered his voice. "Wait, Caffrey hates guns."

Diana grimaced.

"Was it self-defense?" asked Clinton.

Diana put down her coffee. "No, the victims were in line ahead of him at the coffee cart. He shot two of them in the shoulder, but one guy caught a bullet in the neck. There are paramedics on the scene—they say he's probably going to make it, but they won't know for sure until he's out of surgery."

"Wow." Clinton didn't know what to say. Neal had become a lynchpin for the team in a lot of ways. It was going to be weird going back to only working with other agents, and Peter would take it hard. It was difficult to believe this was happening. "What do you think made Neal snap?"

"I don't know," said Diana. "That's not the problem. The real problem is that Peter yelled at Neal for all of ten seconds, and then patted him on the shoulder and took him out for lunch with Elizabeth."

Clinton blinked. He really didn't know what to say to that.

"It's not like this is a new development," said Diana. "Neal's always pushed the line, you know? And Peter's always cut him slack. It's just—"

"—escalated," said Clinton. "Yeah." He reached for his holster. "Come on, we have to get to the bottom of this."

Diana held out a necklace identical to the one she habitually wore these days. "Put this on." Clinton raised his eyebrows, and she dropped it into his palm. "It's an amulet. You're going to need it."

 

 **Three hours later**

"Okay, now it all makes sense," said Diana, gazing down into the pit. They were standing in a construction site in midtown, both wearing borrowed hard hats, and her amulet was glowing bright green. "Dammit! Someone must be putting it there. Depositing more each week." She took some photos with her phone. "I'll get ERT down here and see if they can figure out who's doing this."

"Maybe it's leaking through from another dimension," suggested Clinton. He really didn't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing. His own amulet buzzed against his chest, making the back of his neck prickle.

"There must be two and a half tons of psychic iron ore down there." Diana shook her head and backed away. "No wonder everyone's moral compasses are so screwy."


End file.
